December | 2017 | Blogger Priest

Bishop William Curlin Dies: Rest in Peace

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Father Joe

Bishop Emeritus William G. Curlin, the third bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte, passed away Dec. 23:

The reception of the body and a vigil prayer service will take place at St. Gabriel Church, 3016 Providence Road in Charlotte, at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 1. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 2, also at St. Gabriel Church. Following the funeral Mass, Bishop Curlin will be buried at Belmont Abbey in Belmont.

Bishop, then Msgr. Curlin was our Vocations Director for Washington. He was the pastor of Old St. Mary’s in Chinatown. He accepted me into the seminary back in 1978. God bless him.

Eternal rest, grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.

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Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Father Joe

christmas

Lunch with Santa 2017

Filed under: Church, Parish, Personal, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Is There a Pressing Need to Change the Our Father?

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Father Joe

The Greek verb is εἰσφέρω which is usually rendered as “lead into” or “bring in.” While I see no serious problem with the proposed revised translation, “do not let us fall into temptation,” I am at a loss to any pressing need for dismissal of the traditional rendering. The word “lead” acknowledges the mystery of divine providence and election. God writes his straight lines with our crooked ones. God never intends evil, but the fact that we live in a broken world means that we face many temptations and must take up our crosses to follow Jesus. We can ask that God might excuse or protect us from being brought before temptations that we might find too terrible to bear. But the Pope’s translation might be inferred as divine intervention or as an imposed moral restraint that would violate the person’s human will and freedom. I would suggest an in depth catechesis upon the Lord’s Prayer before any change in the traditional English rendering.

Given all the issues that face us, do we really want to open this can of worms?

Filed under: Catholic, Church, God, Pope Francis, Prayer, Religion, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Not the Clarification for Which Many Were Waiting

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Father Joe

CLICK THE PICTURE ABOVE FOR LINK

Last year the Buenos Aires bishops interpreted the pope’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia so as to permit those sexually active in invalid unions to receive Holy Communion (in certain cases). The Holy Father praised their interpretation in a private letter (September 5, 2016) to Bishop Sergio Alfredo Fenoy, the Delegate of the Buenos Aires Pastoral Region of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina. He wrote, “El escrito es muy bueno y explicita cabalmente el sentido del capitulo VIII de Amoris laetitia. No hay otras interpretaciones.” (Translation: The document is very good and clearly explains the meaning of Chapter VIII of Amoris Laetitia. There are no other interpretations). On June 5, 2017 by order of a papal rescript, both the Criteria or Interpretation of the Buenos Aires bishops and the papal letter were published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, purportedly making this the position of the Church’s “authentic Magisterium.” This seems to conflict with the teaching of Pope John Paul II and with the current Code of Canon Law (canon 752). It would affect our discipline about Holy Communion and even Confessional Absolution. Cardinal Wuerl insists that the doctrine has not changed, just the pastoral discipline. I think I will go back to praying on my knees for awhile on this one.

Filed under: Catholic, Church, Confession, Conscience, Divorce, Eucharist, Faith, Family, Forgiveness, Fornication, Homosexuality, Magisterium, Marriage, Morality, News, Pope, Pope Francis, Religious, Sacramentals, Salvation, Sexuality, Sin | 4 Comments »